10 Things I Did as a Child That Kids Today Would Never Do
Credit: Lamar Tyler
Kids today just ain’t the same. Yeah I said it! They’re weak. They live indoors in their perfect little plastic bubbles. They spend their days using technology and their summers in all sorts of fancy-dancy, specialty camps. Well, this post is a throwback to the good ol’ days of growing up. Back in the day, when we stayed outside until dark, Living La Vida Loca, before it was even a song — LOL. While talking with Ronnie a few days ago and telling her for the umpteenth time that kids today aren’t built like we were, I realized that I needed to put it down on paper my keyboard.
Below is my list of 10 things that I did as a child that today’s kids would never do! Now I’m not condoning any of these actions, and my kids would be in severe trouble for doing half of the things on this list, but let’s go.
Check them out then let me know what you would add to the list!
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STAND UP IN A MOVING CAR
I remember standing up from the backseat as a child. When we got a car with bucket seats I was always standing in between the two. This would definitely be a no-no in today's times.
Photo credit: Lamar Tyler -
NOT WEAR A SEAT-BELT
I don't remember if we even had seat belts in my childhood car. When I do remember having the lap belts we still didn't use them. Nowadays my kids will go crazy if I pull out of my driveway and haven't buckled up yet.
Photo credit: Lamar Tyler -
PLAY OUTSIDE ALL DAY LONG
I remember playing from right after breakfast to right before dinner. Hot days, cold days, in between, it didn't matter. The neighborhood was always abuzz.
Photo credit: Lamar Tyler -
NOT GO TO SUMMER CAMP
I went to a few summer camps in my youth but nothing like these newjack kids. Computer camp this, culinary camp that. As I mentioned before, we just went outside, and don't forget your house key or you'll be locked out until your parents get home from work.
Photo credit: Lamar Tyler -
ROAM THE NEIGHBORHOOD
We got on our bikes and let the wind hit our back. We rode from our neighborhood to the next one. We travled around town to spend loose change at the nearest convenience store. You traveled as far as your legs would take you. Nowadays we don't let our kids off of the block.
Photo credit: Lamar Tyler -
LEAVE OUT WITHOUT A CELL PHONE
Cell phone? I didn't get a pager until I was 16-years-old. Now there are kids are under 10 with iPhones, and their parents still have a flip.
Photo credit: Lamar Tyler -
SAVE CARDBOARD BOXES FOR BREAKDANCING
Whoa! Flashback! We couldn't wait until someone brought something big so we could use the box to do the backspin. Finding a refrigerator box was like looking for Bigfoot.
Photo credit: Lamar Tyler -
WAIT ALL WEEK TO SEE YOUR FAVORITE SHOW
Back in the day we couldn't wait until Saturday mornings to watch cartoons. But now, our kids watch cartoons morning, noon, and night. And when they get tired of watching those cartoons they pull up more on Netflix. Good grief! Credit: dullhunk
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NEVER QUIT A PAID ACTIVITY
We never even dreamt of trying to quit something that mama paid for with her hard earned money. But, this is the age of entitlement and if the kids don't enjoy it they shouldn't have to do it. SMH!
Photo credit: Lamar Tyler
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I laughed when I read this it was really funny to think of some of the thing we did when we were children that children today never would. Yet I think when you can get creative and make a toy out of a box that you found or a barbie car out of a bleach bottle or build a doll house out of books. This is were my creative side comes from today, I had to make some thing out of nothing. Because we could not afford the toys I really wanted, I was much happier with less. But the children today have everything to there disposal and are very un apprecitive of what they have. I loved the article
As kid growing up in the south, we didn’t have a lot of toys, so we had to have an imagination. We would go outside, with an empty jar and catch bees, hornets, yellow jackets, anything that flew. We would catch them in the jars and let them fight. Yeah you got stung sometimes (very rare) but that was par for the course. My kids are terrified at anything that fly and because of that they won’t go outside.
Okay these made me LOL.. YES to the outside thing too. I have to BEG my kids to go out.. it’s always too___ fill in the blank..
I’d LOVE to be able to send my kids to summer camp- my kids have begged for it….but at the cost of anywhere from 800-$1000 or more per kid for like one week???? Just not feasable. Not including transportation and “gear” costs and if you wanna send them somewhere out of state throw in plane tickets too. =(
Now “adults” these days are getting on my nerves. the younger generation have different types of people as well as your generation. its not fair to say we are all like that. im 20 years old. ive been drinking out of the garden hose since i can remember. i spent days on the FARM helping my family with chores since i can remember. i have and still do spend most of my time outside. yes i have a phone, didnt get it till i was 18 and could pay for it myself. its not fair that you all go on about how we are lazy and weak. i personally think i have worked harder than many of you. i spend my days cleaning stalls, getting pulled around and pushed around by horses. i have been stepped on and run over. its not all of us that are that way. just the one whos parents can afford to pay for it all. so please as you older generations attack mine think on that. because things are not always as they seem.
Thank you Lamar for putting it out there. The seat thing is big with me, when I was a kid we rode back and forth from Dallas, Tx to Mississippi and back again sprawled all over the car without a seat belt. We too went out after breakfast and did not come back until it was time for dinner. We also went to drive in movies and played up front under the movie screen while the adults watched the movie. What wonderful times those were. We were not afraid.
Thank you again
Debi
We played from mornin to night.Catch lighting bugs and played tag with flash lights.Put sheets over the swing sets and made forts to sleep in over night.Steal fruits from trees ( apples,pears,plums) and veggies from the gardens.Kept a salt shaker out by the swing set. We had teeter – totters too.Badmitten,frizzbee and crochet even.Ran thru the sprinkler and roller skated.In the winter we made forts and used trash can lids as “shields” to protect us.There isn’t one swing set in my hood and not a kid out playing anywhere after school…sad
How about double-dutch jump rope, 4-squares and Hide and go seek?
This is a great article and thread. When I was growing up we entertained ourselves outside with jump ropes, pogosticks, skates, slip-n-slides, bikes, dodge balls and hopscotch. We’d skate to the store to pick up things like milk, sugar or bread all by ourselves. We’d eat fruit off our neighbor’s trees and set up lemonade stands in the summer. We would sell raffle tickets door-to-door for our church to help the poor without adult supervision. We’d walk to the movies on Saturday mornings and after the show would go to Thrifty Drugstore for an ice cream cone that cost a dime. We would ride bikes to the park where we played on the monkey bars, merry-go-round and slide for hours. We would go door to door asking if we could do work for a quarter to pick up spending money because our parents did not believe in giving us allowances without working for them. Such different times today.
We played jacks for hours on the front stoop on hot summer days. There was always a kickball baseball or football game going on in the street. We got a peanut butter sandwich handed to us out the back door at lunch.The big kids had to watch the little ones. We played under the street light at night.
Ahhhhh Those Were The Days!!!!!!¡!!
The things you listed don’t even begin to hit the fun zone I grew up in. What about kick the can, horse ball game, hopscotch, jacks, jump rope competetions, double jump if your really good,laying out on sidewalk after a good long swim with friends, ice cream trucks are few and far between nowadays, board games with dice and no batteries that would last for days or you went broke
Thats just a few
I remember when we would go to my cousin’s house and go outside to play “cops and robbers” in the two cars in the driveway. Man I miss those days!
I remember laying the back seat window too, Sheree! In fact, I remember my mom suggesting it; “Just lay in the back window, the sunlight will make you warm and drowsy.” What a great story this is, I can add so much to this!
I know that if I said some of the things that my parents used to say, it would be a race to see which one of my kids would grab their cell phones first to call the nice ‘home’ they have on speed dial.
I remember:
- going shopping with my parents. My brother and I went with my mom into the grocery store while my dad went into the hardware store. This was in the good old days, when your groceries would come out of the back of the store on a conveyer belt. When Mom was done, we went and sat in the car. My brother, David, sneezed, and Mom asked where the tissues were, the tissues that were always in the back window. There was also a cross hanging from the rear view mirror that I hadn’t noticed before. All of a sudden my mom said in a soft but clear voice, “No one panic, everything is fine, just quietly and quickly get out of the car. David asked “Why would we panic?” Mom: No panic, you’re not going to panic.” “But why?” Mom: “This isn’t our car!”
I remember:
- “be sure to come in when the streetlights go on.”
- “pick up your feet when you walk!”
- Dad: “Do you know that there are children in other countries that would love to eat those lima beans? It would be the only thing they’ve eaten all week!”
- sitting on the curb, waiting for the ice cream truck on Tuesday evenings. Anyone else remember “Buried Treasure”?
- my baby brother sitting in a car seat that hooked over the back of the bench seat, in between my parents. My dad made a seat belt for him – one of his older ties – not so my brother would be safe, but to keep him from crawling out.
- my mom asking where I was going. “To Ruth’s.” Mom: “Do I know her?” Me: “Yep.” Mom: “OK, come home when the street lights go on.” Me: “OK!” (Never knew a Ruth in my life)
- driving the car for the first time by all by myself. My dad was on the porch when I left, and he was in the exact same place and position when I got home 3 hours later.
- putting packages of lit firecrackers in the toes of my brother’s high-top running shoes that were hanging on the clothes-line because he’d gotten soakers. (I have never seen anyone before or since move as fast as my mother did that day.)
- getting a wood burning kit for Christmas. (That’s a great gift for an 11-year-old girl!)
- smoking a cigarette in the bathroom and flicking it out the window where it fell into the laundry basket full of clean clothes my mom had just taken off the line. (They didn’t speak to the neighbours after that, I don’t know why.)
- playing ‘hide and seek in the dark’ when we had company over, and forgetting to find my brother. Dad: “Where’s David?” David: “I win!” (phew!)
- telling my kids that if I ever start talking or acting like grandma and grandpa to take me outside and pretend I’m Old Yeller, and having my oldest open the back door and say “tsk, tsk, tsk, here girl!”
- I could go on for hours, but if I did, well … see my second paragraph.
Hi,
In raising my children I wanted all three of them to know how to swim, ride a bicycle and how to skate so I feel that learning to skate should be added to the list. It helps with balance and is a fun thing to do for parties, be it roller skating or ice skating. I enjoyed reading the list and I thank you for sharing it with me.
Rita
This was great! I remember staying out all day playing and saving our money so we could ride our bikes to the matinee movie. Sometimes we would watch 2 in a row. I’m only 41 so it wasn’t that long ago. No one would let their kid do that today without a parent. What’s the world coming to!